Smoke belching 1876 steam locomotive hauls passengers around the perimeter of the 80-acre Greenfield Village grounds. Stops are made at several locations. Passengers are advised to shake their clothing to remove the coal particles and not to brush.

Text and Photos
By Rod King
Guest Columnist

DEARBORN, MICH. — There aren’t many places where you can be a passenger on a train pulled by an authentic smoke-belching steam locomotive, take a ride in a shiny vintage 1900s Model T Ford, watch a turn-of-the-century saw mill in action and step inside the birthplaces of the captains of industry in the early 1900s.

That place is Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Mich. It’s where you can step back in time, have fun and get a history lesson without even realizing it.

Upon entering the Village the first thing you encounter is the train with four open cars waiting for you to board for a trip around the perimeter of the 80-acre property with stops along the way. It’s a get-on and get-off ride that is included in your ticket. The station staff is quick to advise passengers to shake their clothes to remove the coal particles that are belching out of the locomotive’s smoke stack rather than brushing.

Henry Ford opened Greenfield Village in 1929. One of eight children, Ford was born on a farm near Dearborn, Mich., in 1863. A technological genius, he revolutionized factory production with his assembly-line methods.

A highlight for many visitors is taking a ride in a 1900s vintage Model T Ford convertible. These vehicles are originals that were produced just up the road at the Ford Rouge Plant. They’ve been carefully restored and maintained and can carry a total of four passengers. The $10 ride fee is well worth it because you get a tour that includes some historical snippets from the driver about the auto you’re riding in, Henry Ford and the various buildings you’re passing.

After the Model T tour, walk over to the 1913 carousel and choose one of the colorful animals to ride. Just a block away is the building that originally housed the Wright Brothers bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. Learn how they made the big step from making and repairing bikes to constructing an airplane and making the world’s first sustained flight of a heavier-than-air craft in Kitty Hawk, N.C., in December 1903.

Edison’s Menlo Park (New Jersey) laboratory, where he invented the incandescent light bulb, is open for visitors to see the equipment and visualize how he used it in his experiments. The building right across the street is where his employees lived and was the first structure ever to be electrified.

Greenfield Village has been around a long time. Ford opened it in 1929 when he started the Edison Institute School System with 32 grade school students. At the school’s peak in the 1940s it had more than 300. His philosophy of education was to “learn by doing,” so the children spent time doing hands-on learning in the buildings he was adding on the grounds.

In the late 1920s, Ford was the primary collector of Americana in the world. He was also gathering technological things for the museum, which is next door to the Village. An academy for 25 gifted students is still operating.

Among the famous buildings are the birthplace of William Homes McGuffey who published the McGuffey Reader for children and the McGuffey School, George Washington Carver’s cabin, the home of Robert Frost, the Noah Webster home, Hermitage slave quarters and a cottage and foundry imported from England.

Greenfield Village is a place you can spend a couple days. Then take a couple more days to roam the Museum. Visit thehenryford.org/visit/greenfield-village for more information.